Zorggebruik vooral bepaald door ernst van depressie*

Objective

To examine uptake of mental health care in people with major depression and examine those demographic and need factors that differentiate early, delayed or no uptake of treatment.

Design

Longitudinal, observational and prospective study.

Method

Data were obtained from the Netherlands Mental Health Survey and Incidence Study-2 (NEMESIS-2). Patients who had reported major depression during the 12 months prior to the first assessment were selected for this study. Their uptake of mental health care was assessed during this period and then again after three years. In order to differentiate between early, delayed or no uptake of mental health care with respect to demographic and need factors, multinomial regression analysis was used.

Results

More than half of the respondents accessed treatment early (62%), meaning they had treatment in the year they had depression. Early treatment users were characterised by more severe and persistent symptoms and were more likely not to have a partner compared with no treatment users (i.e. neither in the year that the depression began, nor in the three subsequent years). The majority of those who did not have treatment reached remission in three years (89%). Respondents who delayed treatment (i.e. no treatment in the year the depression began, but treatment in the three subsequent years) had relatively mild symptoms and at three years reported new or persistent depressive symptoms more often than the early access to treatment group.

Conclusion

Early access to treatment appears to be largely determined by need factors, and not greatly influenced by demographic factors such as age, educational level or gender.

Conflict of interest and financial support: none declared.